The T3 Walk - Episode 3

Leg III, Day 3, 22.12.2019: Kishangargh, Kalkuwa, Lamptinala to Nayakhera - Search without signals -

On the way to Nayakhera, walkers went to a watchtower under construction site in the Madiyadoh range where Mr. Murthy furthered the story about T3. Mr. Dave and Mr. Bhargav (RO Madiyadoh) explained the history of the area. Mr. Murthy gave several suggestions to Mr. Bhargav for improving the range management. They strongly emphasized the importance of working closely with the local communities. Our next stop was Kalkuwa, where we met the locals who still remember T3 passing their area. Mr. Nanhe and Mr. Jitendra Patel, forest guards, Panna TR who were part of the 2009 T3 team joined the caravan. Mr. Nanhe had done extraordinary work in reigning the T3 at Panna TR with other members of the team and Mr. Jeetu had done good work with reintroduction and monitoring of T4, the semi-wild tiger that was rewilded at Panna. Walkers then went to Lamptinala where the T3 Team from Panna TR camped for three days in 2009. It was very tough days in 2009 at this camp, where expect for one pugmark tract, we never got any indication of T3 around. It was here we devised the public communication mechanism where press notes about the tiger movement were issued from the spot. Then posters were made to publicize and request the general public to cooperate and inform the department about any indications of the presence of tiger around. After some exciting photo-sessions and recalling those past experiences, the team moved to a temporary forest camp where Mr. Murthy explained about Panna landscape corridors. Mr. Sagun and Mr. Laxman (villagers from Bhatiagarh) joined the T3 walkers. These people were there with the original T3 caravan for 15 days in 2009 and helped the team in many ways in those tiring days. They recalled their good old experiences of T3 tracking in 2009.

After lunch, walkers went to a degraded Kardhai (Anogeissus pendula) forest of Damoh Forest Division. Mr. Murthy and Mr. Dave described that the place once had dense vegetation but was now reduced to a rocky wasteland, primarily due to unchecked human activities. They emphasized that with people's cooperation such forests and habitats can be brought back to realize the forest ecosystem services for the sake of human welfare. Enroute the team was welcome by SDO Bajana with erstwhile T3 local people and staff at the place where a local passed on the information about T3's presence at Patrikota forests on 6th Dec 2009 which helped the team to hold back T3 from Patrikota onwards. Later, we reached Nayakhera in Bajna range of Chhatarpur division, where the locals welcomed us by traditional dance. Sh. Rai CCF, Chattarpur received the T3 walkers at Nayakheda. Mr. Murthy showed the team and villagers the 2009 historical photographs and many locals and staff enjoyed recognizing and recalling their own and other's pics and experiences 10 years back. It was here where a local person (cattle grazer) who had an accidental meeting the T3 tiger in the forest tract shared his experience with the team. It was here the original T3 team searched for T3 for continuous three days involving more than 250 locals every day.